Rhenny
Adventurer
I totally agree. Combat length will really go a long way toward deciding whether or not I use random encounters. For me, it will be an option to include or leave out depending on the situation in the campaign.
D&D 5E Random Encounters in 5E
I totally agree. Combat length will really go a long way toward deciding whether or not I use random encounters. For me, it will be an option to include or leave out depending on the situation in the campaign.
Invisible Stalker
First Post
As long as combat is quick, I'd be very much in favor of random encounters and wandering monster tables.
Which is why I just run them in my own games I voted lemon curry.
I've never had lemon curry. Is it good?
I'm also fairly certain I've never experienced a random encounter.
I've never used one as a DM. One of the pre-written adventures I've run had some. I think I rolled on the table and got a result of "No Encounter", but I can't recall for sure.
If any one who DMed for me used one, they did a good job of blending it in to what else they were doing, to the extent that I haven't been able to spot them.
So how do I feel about them? I'm pretty much neutral on them, having no good or bad experience with them.
Should they be in the next edition? Yes, but...
Don't make them an assumed part of the system. You're building a modular system, make it a modular option.
Include (with all such modular systems) a discussion on how your choice of using it or not will affect a game. List some of the things that some people find are benefits of it, and some of the things that people find are downsides to it. Let people make informed decisions.
I've never had lemon curry. Is it good?
I'm also fairly certain I've never experienced a random encounter.
I've never used one as a DM. One of the pre-written adventures I've run had some. I think I rolled on the table and got a result of "No Encounter", but I can't recall for sure.
If any one who DMed for me used one, they did a good job of blending it in to what else they were doing, to the extent that I haven't been able to spot them.
So how do I feel about them? I'm pretty much neutral on them, having no good or bad experience with them.
Should they be in the next edition? Yes, but...
Don't make them an assumed part of the system. You're building a modular system, make it a modular option.
Include (with all such modular systems) a discussion on how your choice of using it or not will affect a game. List some of the things that some people find are benefits of it, and some of the things that people find are downsides to it. Let people make informed decisions.
tlantl
First Post
I used to use them all the time. When we switched to 3e I had to set them aside since the gridiron combat system chewed up so much time that nothing else would get done.
I really dislike the combat grid system, I dislike it so much that more than half of the experience points I give out are from plot and story.
I really miss tossing a squad of goblins or an aurumvorax at the players, or maybe have the group suddenly find themselves in a patch of blood thorns.
The more I think about it the more likely i think the designers intentionally left these out because of how bogged down adventures could get if the DMs rolled the six or so random encounters a day in the field or had random encounters in dungeons. All that would ever get done would be random, if not useless, fighting.
I really dislike the combat grid system, I dislike it so much that more than half of the experience points I give out are from plot and story.
I really miss tossing a squad of goblins or an aurumvorax at the players, or maybe have the group suddenly find themselves in a patch of blood thorns.
The more I think about it the more likely i think the designers intentionally left these out because of how bogged down adventures could get if the DMs rolled the six or so random encounters a day in the field or had random encounters in dungeons. All that would ever get done would be random, if not useless, fighting.
kustenjaeger
First Post
Greetings
I voted to have random encounters because they can add a lot to a game. Having said this. to avoid bogging down a session they should be carefully built so that they occur infrequently and add to the adventure. As an example an approach to an orc camp the 'random encounter' is likely to be a patrol, a foraging party, an orc out on an errand etc. The party's action and reaction may then inform the larger events.
When travelling the random encounters will generally be colour but can also keep the party on their toes - don't assume you can travel 5 days through the wilderness to the ruined temple without meeting or avoiding a nasty or two or an inanimate peril.
However there certainly should not be baked into the rules 'roll x times on table y' - give the DM some tools and let them decide the pacing that's best for them.
If combat is more streamlined people will be happier including random encounters because they won't detract so much from the purpose of the session.
Regards
Edward
I voted to have random encounters because they can add a lot to a game. Having said this. to avoid bogging down a session they should be carefully built so that they occur infrequently and add to the adventure. As an example an approach to an orc camp the 'random encounter' is likely to be a patrol, a foraging party, an orc out on an errand etc. The party's action and reaction may then inform the larger events.
When travelling the random encounters will generally be colour but can also keep the party on their toes - don't assume you can travel 5 days through the wilderness to the ruined temple without meeting or avoiding a nasty or two or an inanimate peril.
However there certainly should not be baked into the rules 'roll x times on table y' - give the DM some tools and let them decide the pacing that's best for them.
If combat is more streamlined people will be happier including random encounters because they won't detract so much from the purpose of the session.
Regards
Edward
A hearty yes for the "return" ("continued use", from my perspective) of Random Encounters/Wandering Monsters.
However, as several have already stated, there needs to be a bit of DM judgement in the mix. i.e. they should "make sense" to what's going on (the "no vamp's in the daytime" for example) and where the party is.
A vast swamp or wilderness several days out of town is rife for the possibility of encountering something, in or out of its lair. An orcish mine/outpost might be a bit more restricted: a patrol of orcs, an ogre who lives nearby and trades with them from time to time, some random wild beast that considers the region its hunting territory, etc.
So, as Radiating Gnome said, it's more a "planned randomness." Like,a "Random CHANCE for an encounter that makes sense" moreso than an actual "Random Encounter."
If the party is several levels of caverns underground and I rolled a "couatl" or "air elemental" chances are I'm going to say/think "Forget it. Doesn't make sense...no encounter."
I generally come up with 4 or 6 possible "random encounters" for a partcualr area. Then, if the party is lingering overlong in the middle of nowhere or, quite by accident, runs across an empty lair/cave, I'll roll to see IF an encounter happens...then choose from the creatures/encounters I've pre-determined for that area. Obviously, this is all, also, at the whims of things like "time" and "preparation"...so a "random encounter" is not necessarily going to come up in every session or even every adventure.
Besides, after a while, if things are moving slowly/people are getting bored, it's really not so difficult to come up with something on the fly...not strictly a "random encounter", since there's no rolling or anything involved, but not something that is necessarily pre-planned or "story important" (though could easily lead to some side adventure/interlude) while still being "realistically relevant" to where the party is.
But, yes. Random tables for the less experienced DM (or the more experienced who don't have the time to come up with their own all of the time) would be a welcome, limited amount of space, in an appendix or something in the DMG.
--SD
However, as several have already stated, there needs to be a bit of DM judgement in the mix. i.e. they should "make sense" to what's going on (the "no vamp's in the daytime" for example) and where the party is.
A vast swamp or wilderness several days out of town is rife for the possibility of encountering something, in or out of its lair. An orcish mine/outpost might be a bit more restricted: a patrol of orcs, an ogre who lives nearby and trades with them from time to time, some random wild beast that considers the region its hunting territory, etc.
So, as Radiating Gnome said, it's more a "planned randomness." Like,a "Random CHANCE for an encounter that makes sense" moreso than an actual "Random Encounter."
If the party is several levels of caverns underground and I rolled a "couatl" or "air elemental" chances are I'm going to say/think "Forget it. Doesn't make sense...no encounter."
I generally come up with 4 or 6 possible "random encounters" for a partcualr area. Then, if the party is lingering overlong in the middle of nowhere or, quite by accident, runs across an empty lair/cave, I'll roll to see IF an encounter happens...then choose from the creatures/encounters I've pre-determined for that area. Obviously, this is all, also, at the whims of things like "time" and "preparation"...so a "random encounter" is not necessarily going to come up in every session or even every adventure.
Besides, after a while, if things are moving slowly/people are getting bored, it's really not so difficult to come up with something on the fly...not strictly a "random encounter", since there's no rolling or anything involved, but not something that is necessarily pre-planned or "story important" (though could easily lead to some side adventure/interlude) while still being "realistically relevant" to where the party is.
But, yes. Random tables for the less experienced DM (or the more experienced who don't have the time to come up with their own all of the time) would be a welcome, limited amount of space, in an appendix or something in the DMG.
--SD
howandwhy99
Adventurer
There's really no wrong answer here. I have a few different ways I like to use Wandering Monsters (typically considered random encounters in later works), but there are a few commonalities between them. Here's one way:
This way I can prep encounters for creatures which have already been embedded in the world and roll up details for the more or less likely encounters.
- In a territory a creature (usually) has a lair. A dot in a circle basically.
- It may share that lair with other creatures, even of different types, but the total number shares the lair & the territory.
- When in the lair, they are in the lair - a dungeon encounter keyed by time as well.
- When they out and about doing their thing in the world they are wandering their territory (this can even include expanding it).
- Many, many creatures, lifeforms, non-life, etc. share a territories in overlapping ways. As a DM I pragmatically break these down into coherent levels and assess everything inside.
- Each territory is like a big stack of pancakes then. A wandering encounter table includes all the creatures that wander that territory.
- Each creature has an odds of being encountered based upon their number (population density), size, speed, etc.
- Each table can also account for life cycle times, normally diurnal and nocturnal (day and night encounters).
- The entire total of creatures per table is determined and the probability of encounter for that region is what determines when and how often checks are made.
- For simplicity sake, checks are made prior to play when generating the next scenario. So, Territory/Region A has a timeline of random encounters that will happen so long as characters are within that territory. (i.e. Day 7 hours wolf pack, evening 3 hours giant snake, etc.)
- All of this ignores activities that can attract (or repel) creatures, like combat (or stench, fire, etc.).
This way I can prep encounters for creatures which have already been embedded in the world and roll up details for the more or less likely encounters.
